Analysis of the Advertisement of Chanel´s Bontique

“I don't care what you think about me. I don't think about you at all”. This quote said by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel represent the power and will this designer had. Coco Chanel was a designer, inspiration, and rebellious woman of the early 20th century. Coco changed the way women dressed, thought and behaved in times when men led society in business. Coco understood that advertising has a significant force that easily hides gender messages within the context; it’s a way to pass on deep messages from the designer and hopefully help change gender roles. Anything from the characteristics of human subjects shown, to the furniture, color and body position; all intertwine to provide a message that could already be imbedded in us. The advertisement from Chanel’s boutiques is a good representation of a mixture of designer experiences and challenges with society’s normative and gender bias. By reviewing this advertisement, I had to break it down and analyze each subject, then place all together to analyze the overall social context.

The clear dominant part of the advertisement is the three human subjects placed in the middle. The first subject described is in the left hand side, sitting on a desk. The model is wearing traditional gendered beautification: pear necklaces; short dress; and high heels, this will lead to me believe she is representing a woman. When analyzing the pose of the woman, you can see the way she is sitting. The dress shows most of her leg, portraying the normative view of women as sexualized subject. This model is “doing gender” as West and Zimmerman described in their article. The model is representing a gender and therefore dressed and posed as a woman is expected to be in society. As she is leaning to the right, I no...

... middle of paper ...

...peers, family work and school. This class has taught me how to view things in a sociologically perspective and take on an interactionism approach when viewing what surrounds me. I don’t see only three models showing some clothes for sale, I see a deeper message based on the models, their clothes, their poses, furniture and all surrounding. I was not aware of the struggles those that don’t fit the binary gender go though or how gender bias media and advertisement is. This advertisement by Chanel, really took my critical thinking to a whole new level. By carefully analyzing each subject, understanding the representation of each and as a whole, we can then bring out what the designer is trying to portray. Chanel is a representation of how a woman is able to break all gender norms and along with the women’s revolution, changed the way women dressed for years to come.